I saw a tweet this week from RTÉ about a new programme they are making alongside the Crafts Council of Ireland. This being the Year of Craft they’re looking for amateur craftspeople around the country to apply. They require that you have foundation level skills but you must not or ever have earned your primary income from your craft.

This six show series will take fifteen crafts people from the following disciplines

Ceramics

Wood (woodturning)

Glass

Metal (blacksmithing)

Textiles (weaving)

I know what you’re thinking..no silversmiths!

The idea of the show is that they will place each participent in an intensive two week apprenticeship in the discipline of their choice. I’m sure as the Crafts Council are involved there will be brilliant master craftspeople on hand to run these workshops. These fifteen will then be whittled down to five finalists, one from each discipline. The series finale is recorded in Dublin with one of the finalists being crowned ‘Mastercrafter of 2011’.

It’s great to see RTÉ coming up with interesting ideas like this which involve crafts. I can’t remember the last time I saw a series dedicated to Irish crafts apart from ‘Hands’ and I think that was filmed in the 1980’s! It also gives fifteen amateur craftspeople the opportunity to work with a expert for two weeks. I sure there are lots of talented crafts people around the country who are considering concentrating full time on their craft hobby. This would be the perfect opportunity to refine their skills and also give them lots of free advertising!

If you want to give it a try here’s the link to the application form. All you need to do is fill out the form and send a photo of you and a piece of your work. Applications must be in by the 9th May so get writing and good luck!

I just got my weekly newsletter from Benchpeg yesterday, this is a great British website that posts upcoming jewellery exhibitions and workshops. Anyway there was a piece about the recent RDS National Crafts Competition Exhibition and how the exhibition had made its way to the Courtyard Gallery in Midleton, Cork. So I hopped in my car this morning and headed to Midleton to see the show.

The Courtyard is one of two galleries outside of Dublin where this show can be seen.

The exhibition has twenty different categories of craft making made up of the prizewinners of the RDS Competition. Rather than list all twenty I’ll just talk about the pieces that caught my eye.

Stephen O’ Brien’s Bone Chair was the most impressive piece for me, the only disappointment was that I couldn’t sit on it! I’ve never tried working with wood so have no idea what went into making this but I can only imagine it takes skill to get wood to behave in such a fluid manner.

Stephen O' Brien, Bone Chair

As the only large silversmithing piece Cathal Barber’s silver salt and pepper shaker set stood out for it’s amazing finish and beautiful geometric forms. The only picture half decent picture I can get of this piece is the one I scanned from the catalogue.

Cathal Barber, Stand Together

My only criticism is that only some of the labels and programme details listed the materials used. With such a wide range of disciplines it would have been great to know the chosen materials of each artist.

About

Jewellery Designer based in Cork, Ireland. Since finishing my Masters in design over ten years ago, I have worked as a Silver & Goldsmith creating unique jewellery, Wedding & Engagement Rings and Sculptural commissions. Read more about what I do here.